The Florida Republican Party snarkily endorsed Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried Friday morning after she revealed her plan to run for reelection, even after some within the party called for her resignation.
Posted to social media, the GOP's "endorsement" for Fried's reelection amplifies the conversation on how poorly Florida Democrats performed on Election Night—losing Miami-Dade for the first time in over 30 years and losing yet another state legislative seat—and how many people, including Democrats, attribute those failures to party leadership.
"Nikki Fried has our total and complete endorsement to lead the @FlaDems for another 4 years," The GOP posted to X. "She is the only one that can successfully bring the Democrat Party into complete extinction in the Sunshine State. We wish her all the best."
They responded to ABC Action News' Thursday interview with Fried, where she promised that she will be "sticking around" in the Democratic party and claimed that there will never be a solid foundation if the party keeps switching out chairs. As a result, "If we scratch everything and start over, '26 will be an absolute bloodbath for this party.
"[There's] still an opportunity for anybody who wants to call and say, 'Hey, why didn't we do this, or why should we do this instead?' But we don't have time for finger-pointing," Fried said, acknowledging the "naysayers" who blame her for Democrat failures. "Finger-pointing has gotten us into a situation where every two years we change chairs. And what has that done for us?"
Florida Democrats' failures are not all on Fried, who came into the leadership role in February 2023. Party issues with enthusiasm, for example, started slowly in 2016 after Trump narrowly won the state before rapidly increasing, resulting in 2024 boasting nearly 1.1 million more registered Republicans than Democrats. Gov. Ron DeSantis won reelection in 2022 by a historic 19 points, and with him came massive Republican supermajorities in both the state House and Senate—all before Fried assumed the chair title.
Regardless, Democratic operations have not run smoothly under Fried, the last statewide Democrat to win office in 2018. In recent months, the party came under fire from within for accusations of racism, religious insensitivity, and lying to Floridians. Prominent South Florida Democrat Billy Corben announced his disaffiliation from the party and publicly called for Fried's resignation after the election "bloodbath," penning a long list of grievances where he blamed her "malfeasance and malpractice" for the conservative beatdown.
Conservatives, meanwhile, are supposedly thrilled at the prospect of Fried remaining the party chair.
"The best Florida Dems chair the Republican Party of Florida could ever ask for," DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern posted Friday.
